A Sip of Hot Coffee
by MrsHomestuck
Summary: An AU where the kids and trolls are all human and attend school together. Jade Harley and John Egbert just moved to town, and a few of the neighborhood kids try to learn more about them- Dave Strider in particular, and his main focus is shifting to Jade alone. Rated T for slight sexual themes and language, most likely won't be rated higher, but there is a standing possibility.
1. Chapter 1

"Jade, huh?" Dave whispered to himself with a smug smile on his face. He was quite excited to meet the new girl who his sister Rose was going on about. Considering that Rose is in all advanced classes, Dave never sees her, which means that the new chick is obviously smart too, which explains why they haven't met.  
According to Rose, two kids just moved to their town. The dark black hair on their heads and similar skin tone apparently makes it obvious that they are related. He has already met John, he's a weird kid but no one really approaches him like that, so he can respect him a bit for that. Dave's thoughts are interrupted as the calm voice of his sister comes from behind him. "Hello, Dave," she motioned to the girl next to her as he turns to face her, "this is Jade Harley. I met her in my science class."  
He scans over Jade from behind his shades. His eyes seem drawn to her big green eyes that are complimented by her tanned skin and light freckles that are haphazardly spread across her face. Her expression is nervous and Dave decides to start the conversation. "Hey. I'm Dave."  
In reply, Jade throws out her hand in between both of them. Dave notices her body shaking and her face turning red. "H-hello. Nice to meet you, Dave." He extends out his right hand casually and watches as she squeaks as he shakes her hand. He can't help but to let a smile sneak from his usually emotionless act. Jade seems to relax a bit when he smiles.  
Rose interrupts after looking at the watch on her wrist. "Oh dear, it seems I'm going to be late for the debate meeting if I stand around any longer. I've gotta run, bye guys." Jade's face practically explodes with red as Rose begins to walk past. Just before she passes Dave, she whispers to him. "Just go along with it. She has wanted to meet you."  
He just stands still and doesn't even bother to look at Rose. She is always trying to hook him up with random girls she meets and he now doubts that this will go well. He directs his glance at Jade and watches her crack an awkward smile. He smiles just a bit in reply and walks closer to her. She looks full of distress and squeaks again as he puts his arm around her. "Let's go Harley."  
"Where?" She stutters and can't seem to stop staring at his arm.  
"I don't know," he admits, "we can get some ice cream or some shit, whatever you wanna do."  
"Um, we can go to the coffee place," she begins, "it's pretty much the only place that I've been to, and I'd much rather be there."  
Dave shrugs and begins walking. "Alright, all aboard the Dave train. Next stop, coffee shop." She legitimately laughs at his stupid joke. Girls never laugh at his jokes, so this is weird for him. When with a lady friend of Rose, he always does this. He puts his arm around her and takes her where ever she would want to go, but Jade is a little different. Usually they want to go to the park or something and discuss stupid shit, but hopefully the subject of conversation will be different.  
The coffee place is really nearby, which is probably why Jade has already been there. They both walk in and Jade immediately notices the glares she is getting. She whispers to him, "Dave, why are people looking at us like that?"  
Jade catches a glimpse of his eyes for a split second because of the angle she is looking at him from. "Don't worry about that, sis. It happens to all the new kids. You'll be fine."  
She shudders a bit. "Ugh…"  
They both walk up to the counter and an outgoing girl with chocolate skin and a huge pearly white grin cackled from behind the cash register. "Dave! What are you doing here? And who is your lady friend?"  
"Hey Ter, this is the new girl, Jade. Y'know, Egbert's sister."  
"Ooooohh, cool dude is already getting fresh with the new girl, huh? Go figure, she's shy. You really do like gentle girls, huh Dave?" Jade watches as Dave's straight face becomes a frown.  
"Haha! I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Anyway, what do you guys want?" Terezi giggles and brushes off what just happened like she never even said anything.  
Dave and Jade both order and after a while Jade feels uncomfortable. The arm around her has failed to lift off and she is beginning to feel really shy because of all the people who tend to look in her direction. Their rather simple coffees arrive and Dave leads Jade to a table near the window. "So, Jade, any interests?" He questions after they sit down and take a few sips of coffee.  
She shrugs a bit in reply. "I really like science and gardening, but that's about it. Oh, also, I do my share of making music now and then. I'm not very good though." Dave's eyes widen with interest from behind the confines of his sun glasses.  
"Music, huh? What kind of music?" He asks and makes sure to sound only mildly interested.  
"Oh, it varies. Like I said, I'm not very good."  
Dave drifts into thought and makes sure to mentally note that he should ask her more about her music later. He snaps back to reality as he finds his hand around her small wrist that is in front of his face. He hardly even realized what happened until Jade said something. "Sorry, it's just hard to know what's going on in your mind with those things on."  
Jade watches carefully as Dave's expression stays perfectly still. He never seems to show if he is happy or not, but she shivers as the aura around him is steaming with negativity. Dave notices her frightened expression and puts a hand on her head out of pity. She is frail. Dave thought to himself. I need to be careful.  
Her tan face sparks with red as his warm hands ruffle her messy-enough hair. A smile spreads across her face and she giggles. Dave appears to be caught off guard by the sudden sound of happiness in her voice and moves his hand away in reply. He feels warmth begin to fill his chest with the image of her smile lingering. They both take a sip of their coffee at the same moment, which causes uproar of laughter from Jade and Dave cracks a smile. Everyone around them watches the couple and a few of the people present seem stunned to see Dave Strider smiling.  
"So," Jade begins, "what are your interests?"  
"Well," Dave clears his throat, "I enjoy photography as a hobby and actually make some sick beats on my turn tables."  
Jade laughs and shows off her wide smile. "It's kind of an ironic sense of humor that I get from you!"  
Dave looks at her with wide eyes and is practically beaming. Most people would consider it not much of a compliment, but Dave has never felt so flattered. Across the room the two both hear a maniacal chuckle at her comment. Dave glares back at Terezi in reply and then quickly turns back to Jade and softens his face by being greeted with her big green eyes.  
The two teenagers stare at each other contentedly and slowly begin to lean in. All of the people around them seem to vanish as they inch closer and closer to each other. The two both begin to close their eyes, preparing for a kiss, but it is interrupted by screaming that brings them back to the real world. "Will you guys get a fucking room?! Can't a jackass get some relaxation for once in his cruel life?" The voice screams.  
The two turn their heads to see an angry-looking boy glaring at them. Jade notices John standing next to the angry boy and waves eagerly. "Hey, stupid girl, don't ignore me." The face of the unfamiliar boy grew red in anger.  
"God dammit Karkat, you fucking idiot. You have to come near me every time that something good happens in my life, huh?" Dave's bored expression becomes a scowl.  
"Will you stop bringing that up?!" Karkat's expression lightens into a more embarrassed look and his eyes lead to Terezi behind the counter. She waves and he clears his throat nervously in reply. "This time, the fucker behind me told me to stop you two. He didn't want his sister's first kiss to be lost to a stupid fucker like you. I understood his concern when I saw you being the idiot he was talking about."  
Dave's face gets a bit red and he frowns. "What? Sorry to break it to you, but John doesn't have to run his sister's life." Dave sees from the corner of his eye that Jade nods furiously.  
"Jade, you don't even know him! He is a total douche!" John begins speaking.  
"I bet he isn't as bad as you John." Jade scowls and Dave chuckles at the shocked face that John makes.  
John begins a big speech about how he is so much better than Dave. Jade doesn't even listen; she just sits there and sips the rest of her coffee like a good girl. In the middle of his ranting, Jade gets up and interrupts him. John glares at her. "Hey- listen to me when I'm talking!"  
"I'm older than you, John. I know you deny it, but it's true. Let me do what I want to do." Jade scowls at John. She admits, losing her first kiss to a guy that she knew almost nothing about was a bit crazy, but she is months older! That must mean something. Plus, she is much more mature compared to him. She is really immature and she is still more mature than her brother. "Now back off, retard."  
All three of the men stay completely still as they watch the usually shy and timid girl storming off after shouting out rude expressions as such. Both Dave and Karkat feel their hearts skip a beat and John just scowls. "She's such a child!" John frowns. "And you, Dave! I can't believe you almost kissed my sister! How could you do that?! I thought you were my friend!"  
"Whatever dude. Your sister is a fucking goddess. She pulled me in with her motherfucking siren call. Have you seen that girls face before, dude? God dammit it was like a fucking boner party in this place." Dave grins and watches and John gets even madder.  
"Shut the fuck up, dude! I don't fucking care!" Karkat and Dave watch as John also storms off. Karkat glances at Dave and sits across from him and stares at the empty cup that Jade left.  
Dave raises an eyebrow and stares at Karkat. "Who the fuck was that girl?"  
"Jade Harley. She's pretty cool." Dave replies.  
"God dammit, she had an attitude." Karkat chuckles.  
Dave looks confused for a moment and then realizes what is happening. "Oh no dude. No fucking way, you get your kitty mitts away from that hot piece of ass. She's mine dude."  
Karkat scoffs. "Yeah right. She's obviously easily manipulated, which is the only reason she almost kissed you."  
"Dude, I'm telling you, I heard a beautiful voice singing to me, making me come closer. I was almost killed dude. I was trying to sail my damn boat peacefully like the sailor I am, but then I heard that sweet sound and had to check her out."  
"What the fuck are you talking about?"  
"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Dave sighed. "Aren't you still trying to wrap Pyrope around your finger anyway?"  
Karkat turns red and glances over at the girl with light brown hair that is talking to a customer. "Well, yeah, but come on man. I admit, Harley's got a bite to her. I like it."  
"You claim that you only like fierce girls, so why don't you date Meenah? You guys are both idiots, it's a great idea!"  
"Why don't you fuck yourself, you tool." Karkat blushes at the mention of Feferi's older sister, who in fact is sporting a crush for Karkat, and he stares out the window to think his complicated love life over.  
Dave rolls his eyes and gets up. He throws away both his and Jade's empty cups and begins walking. The door rings a cute bell as he walks out and he hears Terezi scream "COME AGAIN!" as he leaves.


	2. Chapter 2

Dave isn't in a very good mood. He was about to lock lips with that sweet girl and it would've been awesome. Or terrible, he really didn't know. But holy shit, he wanted to kiss her sweet lips and start feeling all up on her. Or not, he didn't really know being a retarded teenager and all that. He really thought that he would get to feel her soft lips though. He was actually looking forward to it. But then that idiot Karkat had to cut in.  
Karkat and Dave have a past of fighting over things. The main thing they would fight over was Terezi. Karkat and Terezi had this weird love-hate relationship and a questionable past together. When she met Dave, Terezi fell head over heels. Dave didn't care much for her at first but she grew on him. They dated for a long time, but they ended up breaking up. The relationship just didn't click well. Terezi decided she wasn't interested in a relationship after that. Karkat is still interested in her, but Dave truthfully lost all interest in something more than a platonic relationship. Even though Dave and Jade just met, Dave already seems defensive when Karkat comes near her.  
Meanwhile, Jade found her way home and locked herself in her room. She was so mad and embarrassed. She knew that John wanted her to be careful but that was totally dumb! The guy of her dreams was going to kiss her on the first day that they've met. It's like a fairytale where a prince appears out of nowhere and saves the tortured princess. That man is definitely a prince. Or, maybe a knight.  
Jade started to smile over the thought of Dave and hummed peacefully. She got up from her bed and looked outside her window. Out of complete coincidence, she could see Dave a few houses down and walking in her direction. She opened her window and screamed when Dave came close enough to hear properly. "Dave! Hey, Dave!"  
Dave looked up to see the pretty girl that he was thinking about. He waved casually and stayed where he was as Jade ran somewhere. After about 30 seconds he was face to face with Jade who raced up to him as fast as she could. Before he could realize what was happening, Dave was being led into her house. This is quite the step for the first day of meeting someone.  
The house was tiny and kind of boring, but none of the houses on that street were very high-quality. Dave sniffed the air and smelled something sweet. Jade noticed his reaction and frowned. "I'm sorry about the smell. Neither John or I are very skilled with cooking, we pretty much only know how to bake because of our dad. What you smell is frosting."  
Dave grinned a bit and watched Jade as she started walking up the stairs. Dave watched her carefully and got a questioning look in reply. "Come on, Dave."  
He regained the ability to move his limbs and walked slowly after Jade. He watched as her hips swayed underneath the long skirt that she was wearing. His face turned red and he decided it would probably be a better idea if he tried to not look at her.  
"Where are you even taking me?" Dave groaned out after climbing the first set of stairs and preparing for the next. The house looks not even half that size on the outside.  
"We are going to my room, of course." Jade looked at Dave with a questioning expression as if it was expected. Dave started blushing and furrowed his brow.  
"W-what? Harley I don't know if I feel comfortable with that."  
"What's wrong, cool guy?" Jade winked at him. "I thought that you would've easily taken that. Being so smooth and all that."  
Dave looked around awkwardly and cleared his throat after taking a breath. "Of course I'm fine with it. Whatever." Obviously he was lying. He liked Jade and all but wasn't sure about it. He still didn't know much about her and would make sure so be careful.  
Jade was about to step onto the first step on the second flight of stairs but lowered her leg back to where it was. "Haha! Sorry! Silly me, this leads to the roof. I'm sorry; my old house had WAY more stairs. I guess I'm still not out of the habit." Dave raised an eyebrow and started feeling increasingly more nervous as she led him to her room at the end of the hallway.  
She opened the door for him and laughed as he hesitated to walk in. "Come on, silly! It's fine!"  
He looked around to see a few stacked boxes spread across the room; the majority of them were labeled "squiddles" in a green marker. Jade smiled and closed the door, which startled Dave. She giggled softly and started opening one of the boxes. "I needed a guy like you to help me with all of this. I would really appreciate it if you would unpack with me." She was telling the truth, but not the full truth. She left out that she really just wanted to see him again.  
Dave shrugged and agreed to help. He began pulling soft plushies out of one of the labeled boxes. Jade started explaining them to him about how they were from a kids show that she adored when she was younger. Dave replied saying that he didn't recognize it. They finally finished organizing the plushies on a shelf, by color.  
"So," Dave began to catch Jade's attention, "sorry about what happened earlier." He sighed a bit and thought about how badly he wanted to punch John and Karkat both square in the face. Jade began to blush and cleared her throat.  
"Uh, it's no problem. Maybe it was for the best anyway. We DID just meet."  
"Says the girl who just invited me into her house."  
"Uh whatever."  
"And her room."  
"Shut up!"  
Dave chuckled at her embarrassment and sighed as he began to lie on her floor. He was surprisingly tired for organizing little plushies. Jade lied right next to him and turned on her side to face him. "Hey." Jade said gently.  
He turned to her and whispered. "Sup."  
Jade could feel her cheeks burning red when she could hear his soft breath and softly put a hand on his shoulder. Dave failed to move in reply so Jade continued to bundle her arms around him to embrace him gently. Dave closed his eyes and hugged her back. He had no idea who this strange girl was and was still afraid to see who see really was. So far she seemed great, but he wasn't sure about behind that cute smile.  
"Dave," Jade began to close her eyes as she whispered to him, "What are we even doing?"  
"I was just wondering the same thing." Dave sighed.  
They both pulled away from each other and stayed silent. Before they could even realize it, their lips were locked. Dave got exactly what he hoped for. He wanted to feel her soft lips pressing into his with need, and that is exactly what happened. Jade was also happy. This was her first real kiss and it was as good as others would describe. His lips were not very well taken care of, but his warmth made up for it. After a few seconds, they both slowly pulled away. Jade's cheeks were bright red and Dave was also sporting a soft shade of red on his cheeks.  
Jade nuzzled into his arms and rested her head on his chest. She felt so strangely at peace. She expected after her first kiss that she would be really jittery and excited to talk about it, but she just wanted to stay with him forever. Dave put his arms around her and smiled a bit to himself. Doing things so suddenly usually isn't his style, but this girl is the definition of a lure. Her big eyes and cute figure attracted him to the extent that he was brought into her lair. He held back laughter over the thought of her actually being dangerous. The only dangerous thing about her would be how naïve she was. Good thing that Dave was very gentle with girls.  
"Jade!" John called out from down stairs at the top of his lungs. Jade quickly shuffled off Dave and they both sat up. They both mentally agreed that hiding would make everything worse, so he just sat where he was. John opened the door without even knocking to see Dave and Jade sitting in the middle of her floor together. "Oh, hello Dave." John rolled his eyes at him.  
"Sup." Dave replied in a perfectly calm voice.  
John turned to Jade and started completely ignoring Dave. "So Jade, a friend of mine is going to come over tonight. I hope that's okay with you."  
"Oh," Jade looked at him questioningly, "who is coming over?"  
"Her name is Vriska." Dave snickered and John turned to glare at him. "What? She is a lot easier to tolerate compared to you."  
Dave pretended to make an offended expression yet couldn't stop chuckling. Vriska was probably the most-hated girl in school. While she kept up good grades and was absolutely gorgeous with more than a normal office job ahead of her, she still had a nasty personality. Dave couldn't seem to understand why a guy like John would fall for her, but then it hit him. They were both total douchebags! Dave almost made a dramatic movement as if he won a fucking Professor Layton game with way harder puzzles than his mind could handle.  
John squinted at Dave and then gave the look back to Jade. "Why is he here anyway? I'm really sick of seeing you hanging out with him, Jade."  
Jade looked embarrassed and Dave cleared his throat in preparation to explain with a very straight-forward lie. Instead, Jade interrupted him and told the exact truth. "Okay, okay, so I just wanted to hang out with Dave some more and right then I saw him walking past our house, so I just had to jump on the opportunity!"  
She looked back at Dave and he shook his head in reply. She made an upset expression and John sighed. "Jade, you know that stuff is dangerous! I might know Dave a bit better than you, but I still don't know if he's a murderer or pervert or something! We DID just move here! Don't be an idiot!"  
Dave frowned at how John was being such a jerk to his own sister- he understood sibling fighting for sure, but he didn't really like how Jade was being treated. "Hey, hey, hey! It's not like I was planning on ending up here, it just happened. Don't blame her, if anything it's MY fault."  
"Then get out." John said blankly.  
"Alright." Dave stood up and patted Jade's head as a cover to try to think of a cool way to make an exit. John started getting even more annoyed so Dave made the quick way out.  
He jumped out of the window.  
He SERIOUSLY jumped out of the window.  
Jade and John stared forward in shock at how someone would just casually make an exit out of the window on the second floor of a building. Jade rushes to the window to look below and sees Dave perfectly fine and calm as if he had done it millions of times before. He casually waves at Jade and starts walking in the same direction he was planning to go before Jade dragged him into her house.  
Dave can't help but begin to laugh as John shouts out the window at Dave, "YOU'RE A FUCKING LUNATIC!"  
John turned to Jade and frowned furiously. Jade rolled her eyes and sat on her bed. John continued to glare at her and refused to leave her room. "You're annoying, John."  
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" John ignored her comment and immediately started bombarding her with questions.  
"Nothing's wrong with me."  
"There's definitely something wrong with you. Why are you acting like a naïve retard? You don't just fucking invite a complete STRANGER into your house!"  
Jade sits up and frowns at him. "THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE PLANNING ON DOING LATER TODAY!"  
John's face lightens up a bit as he realizes that she's making a valid point, but then he tries to find another way to make her feel bad about what she did. "He could've killed you, Jade! He's not even really cool, how could you like someone like him?! Or even kiss him, in fact?"  
Jade blushes a bit and looks away.  
"Yeah, yeah, you thought I wouldn't realize your girly pink lipstick smeared all over his face? You must fucking suck at kissing to make such a mess."  
She looks at John and stands up. He tries to react fast enough to evade, but he can already feel the sting of her hand on his face before he can get out of the way. Jade storms out of the room and locks herself in the bathroom. John is left in her room where he is bending over because of the pain. John forgot how strong Jade was sometimes.


	3. Chapter 3

Jade was crying. She kept her body as small as she could while she sat in the middle of the floor. Her legs were uncomfortably pressed forcefully against her torso and her arms coiled around herself. The tears were big and slow. They ran down her face as slowly as a snail and she couldn't help but let out gasps between each breath.

She was getting exhausted. Crying, while it may be an easy way to let out feelings, sure isn't easy physically on the body. She felt nauseous and wanted to smack John until he cried, but she knew she couldn't do that. So, to make up for her unreal fury, she just cried and cried. John could clearly hear her cry for a good 30 minutes before she finally let up.

Anger was overwhelming to Jade and she wanted to see Bec. She wanted to hug him and love him and be with him, but she can't do that anymore. She misses Bec more than anyone, he was her best friend. He would sit with her and comfort her and lick her face when she was sad, but she didn't have the privilege anymore. She begins to mourn over the thought of him; she wishes that he would've never died. He was her best friend, now she just has regular friends- no best friend though.

Meanwhile, Dave finally made it to his own house. He looked at the tall building and sighed to himself. He kissed Jade, but he felt guilty about it. While he didn't have any intentions of hurting even one hair on Jade's head, he knew that it was his fault that she was in such a mess with her brother. He begins wondering what would've happened if he just ignored her earlier. He shook his head and walked inside his house.

He hated this house. He knew that there are people around the world, even nearby who would kill for such a sweet place, but he still hated it. It was too big and made him feel lonely. All that he ever did was fight with his brother when he happened to come along. While Rose was there too, she was always busy with her own problems, plus she took care of their mother. Not many people could guess that Dave was always feeling sad and alone; most people just immediately thought that he's a stuck-up rich kid who cared only about himself.

Dave has dated tons of girls and can hardly build a strong relationship before he is brutally dumped, which also affects his reputation. Most of the girls that Dave has dated never got his humor or even tried to look at his personality behind his looks, so they always ended up leaving him. The only girl he has dated the actually listened was Terezi, and EVERYONE could agree that she was full-blown crazy. He's not too sure about Jade; so far she seems really cool and actually sane, but he can't be too sure. While he did kiss her, their relationship isn't exactly written on stone or even on paper. They just met.

"Daaaaveeee! Could you help mommy out?" He immediately went to his room as he heard his mom yelling for him. He locks the door behind himself and flops over on his bed immediately. The last person he wants to see is his mom; all she does is leave for her so-called 'work' and comes home drunk. He didn't want to ever deal with her shit, never.

He kicked his shoes and shades off. Most people wouldn't be able to handle wearing those annoying shades for so long, but Dave still had a limit. He sat up and looked out of the window as crows flew by. He rubbed his eyes and lied back down on his bed to at least attempt to relax. Right when he felt comfortable a loud knock sounded against his door. "Dave, it's Rose."

"What do you want?" Dave moaned tiredly and curled up under his sheets.

"I was wondering how your date went."

"It sucked."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, how about you keep mister-self-image-issues out of my love life?" Dave finally stood up and let Rose in his room. She closed the door behind herself so that their mother could not interfere.

"What did Karkat do this time?"

"Man, I was gonna kiss her; until he broke us apart."

"That seems awfully rude of him- while he does have issues with the subject of you in general I don't see why he would keep you from kissing someone."

"Oh, I kissed her, but it wasn't as romantic as I would've hoped."

Rose raises an eyebrow. "You kissed while he was watching?"

"No, no, later I kissed her."

"Later? Did you wait for him to leave or something?"

"Nah. She dragged me to her house- or, well, I kinda just walked past and she nudged me inside."

"You went to her house?"

"Yeah."

"Well, this is interesting, I definitely do not believe in 'love at first sight', but I may well be hearing it from someone else's perspective."

Dave rolls his eyes and continues his story. "Yeah, well, she took me to her room. For a while I was gettin' nervous and shit, cuz y'know, I just met her. She wanted me to help her with somethin', I didn't really mind so yeah, I did some stuff for her. When we finished setting up these totally rad plushies she had, I decided to take a load-off. She followed my lead and then we just… Kissed."

Rose watches Dave as he tells his story silently. She waits patiently for him to continue speaking. He gets the idea by her expression and continues. "We just laid there for a while, until John Dick-head had to barge in. At first he didn't mind me bein' there, but then he just went batshit all up on Jade. I couldn't believe he could be so rude to his own sister, I mean, I know how we fight sometimes and definitely how me and bro fight, but he was just bein' a total douche! I ended up leavin' cuz he made me leave."

Dave finishes and Rose thinks it over a bit. He is used to her acting like this, so he knows he should wait until she comes up with a reply that is, hopefully, helpful. "Well, Dave, I definitely approve of you taking such a strong liking to Jade. She is definitely your type, and you are definitely hers. About your situation, I believe that just talking to John will help. Or maybe distracting him would work if he isn't up to talking things out. Get him interested in someone, anything, just make sure that he won't take too high of a notice to you and Jade being together."

He looks at Rose curiously. She looks back blankly in reply. Dave begins nodding his head and Rose smiles a bit. She knows that Dave needs help when it comes to relationships, so she usually persuades him into dating. Her advice usually works, so Dave thinks he will be fine. He still feels worried about what to say to John though. Should he apologize for falling in love? He just doesn't see what's so wrong with the idea of him and Jade together. Sure, John knows more about Dave than Jade does, but that doesn't mean that Jade can't be allowed to judge what is good or bad for herself. For all Dave knows, she might find out about something really stupid and leave. He doesn't care, he just wants to give her a shot.

Rose leaves Dave's room to give him the time and space that he needs to think properly. She knows he needs help sometimes, but this isn't one of those times. She could give him all the advice in the world and it would hardly change how difficult this encounter will be for Dave considering how he is as a person. Dave has more trouble expressing his true feelings then probably anyone. He grew up doing that for his brother to be proud of him, but he never was. Dave kept at it so that it would seem believable and he soon enough changed his feelings all together. Something is practically missing from Dave, and it's one of the most human things anyone could have: being able to show their emotions.

He sighs and closes his eyes to think over the situation instead of just one bit of it like he was before. He soon enough finds himself laying on his bed and falling asleep. He wants to fix everything as soon as possible, but he is so exhausted…

Dave's mind is blank for a good hour before he finally begins to dream. He can feel his mind being lifted to a dreamy landscape where he can be as happy as ever. In this world, Dave can show as much emotion as he pleases and no one will care. While anyone else would consider such dreams incredibly boring, every time that Dave has one of them he is at total peace.


End file.
